When The Lights Go Out
by carissima
Summary: A very late Halloween fic for the exchange. Brooke and Nathan are at the River Court, where a Halloween party is going on. No Haley, alternate version of events.


**I know, why am I writing a Halloween fic two weeks late? Well, because this is part of an exchange that someone couldn't complete, so I wrote it for them. This is for Aleah, and hopefully it's to her tastes! I've never really written a Brooke/Nathan fic before, it was kind of cool!**

**The requirements:**

**Pairing: Nathan/Brooke, anything else goes I guess.**

**Rating: PG-13/R  
Season: Two (alternate version of events after Haley leaves, obviously)  
Genre: Scary**

**Must include the phrases:  
-- "Get your foot out of my side, now."**

**-- "Next time, we find a way to bring the street lamps."**

**Additional Requirements: A Halloween party at the rivercourt with a deliberate lack of lighting; someone falling in the water and almost drowning because no one can see what the hell is going on.**

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"Okay, whose bright idea was this?" Brooke grumbled as she tripped over someone's leg.

"I believe that would have been Lucas'," Nathan reminded her as he picked her up.

"Lucas is an idiot," Brooke mumbled as she held onto Nathan's hand and he guided her around the River Court.

"No argument from me," Nathan muttered as he helped Brooke over another body.

"Having our Halloween party here was a great idea. Having no lighting? Terrible idea. How am I meant to know if Tim is creeping up behind me?" Brooke glared in the general direction of where she thought Tim might be.

"If he sneaks up on you again, just grab me or something," Nathan shrugged.

"I'm holding you to that," Brooke sighed. "Are we near the seats yet?"

"I think so," Nathan put his hand out to feel for the chairs Peyton had borrowed from Tric and they'd placed around the court before it got dark. "Next time, we bring the street lamps."

"The ones you stole from Dan's parking lot last year?" Brooke giggled.

"The very same," Nathan grinned. "Okay, I think we're here."

"Nate, I can't see where I'm going," Brooke whined as she felt Nathan's hand leave hers.

He grabbed her waist and steered her towards the chairs.

"Now quit whining," Nathan teased as he felt her sit down.

"Quit leaving me in the dark then!" Brooke took advantage of the pitch blackness and stuck her tongue out at him.

"I saw that," Nathan laughed.

"Saw what?" Brooke asked angelically.

"Saw you – Ow! What the -," Nathan cursed. "Tim! Get your foot out of my side now!"

"Sorry Nate, I didn't see you there," Tim grinned happily. "Hey Brooke!"

Brooke glared at Tim in the dim light and moved closer to Nathan, who casually put his arm around the back of Brooke's chair.

"You want to dance, Brooke?" Tim leaned over Nathan and peered at her.

"Brooke's with me, Tim," Nathan said nonchalantly.

"No she's not," Tim laughed. "You're with Haley. Brooke's with Lucas. You can't fool me!"

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Tim, I'm not with Lucas. That was over months ago," Brooke paused, not wanting to upset Nathan by talking about Haley's absence.

"And I don't see Haley here, do you Tim?" Nathan muttered. "The only person I see is Brooke."

"Bu- … What?" Tim asked, dumbfounded as he watched Nathan's hand caress Brooke's shoulder.

"Go find Bevin or something, Tim," Brooke sighed as Nathan massaged her tense shoulders.

"She's busy with that guy Lucas hangs out with," Tim pouted.

"Skills! Really?" Brooke giggled. "Good for Bevin."

"Tim, get lost," Nathan glared at him.

Tim shot up and walked away, muttering about girls.

"Thanks, Nate," Brooke murmured.

"Anytime," Nathan dropped his hand from her shoulder but left it resting on the back of her chair.

"Did you see where Lucas went?" Brooke asked.

"I think he went with Mouth to find some kind of lighting," Nathan shrugged.

Brooke giggled. "How's Mouth going to carry lighting back here?"

"I'm more worried about Lucas. His scrawny ass doesn't hit the weight room often enough for him to be able to carry more than 10lbs," Nathan grinned.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. Why didn't you go, if you're so big and strong?" Brooke teased him.

"Someone needed to look after you before you fell into the water or something," Nathan shot back.

"I wouldn't have fallen into the river! I'm not stupid, Nate," Brooke pouted.

"Yeah, sure Brooke," Nathan smirked.

"Shut up!" Brooke swatted his shoulder.

"Do you want me to call Tim back over?" Nathan glared at her.

"I'm sorry," Brooke pouted flirtatiously with him.

"What about Peyton? Where did she disappear to?" Nathan grinned at her before peering into the darkness.

"She's sitting on the court with Jake and Jenny, playing happy families," Brooke giggled. "Jenny's dressed as a fairy, so Jake dressed up like Peter Pan, which made Peyton Wendy, but typically, she came as Captain Hook instead. So if you see Peter Pan making out with Captain Hook, don't be shocked."

"Okay," Nathan laughed.

"It's nice to hear you laugh. You don't do it much these days," Brooke said softly.

"There hasn't been much to laugh about recently," Nathan pointed out.

"I'm sorry, Nate," Brooke reached for his hand, missed in the darkness and ended up with her hand against his chest. "My, my. You have been working out, Nathan Scott! You should have come as Tarzan in a loin cloth or something, instead of covering up that body of yours in a lame gangster outfit."

"Hey, I thought my costume was awesome!" Nathan glanced down at his pinstriped suit and tipped his hat at her.

"Well, its okay, I guess," Brooke goaded him.

"You think your Cat-woman costume is so much better?" Nathan returned.

"Hey, I look sexy as hell in black leather!" Brooke raised an eyebrow and stared him down.

"Yeah, you look okay," Nathan grinned.

"You take that back, Nathan!" Brooke flew off her chair and pulled Nathan off of his onto the grass. Tickling him, she giggled as he tried to catch her wrists. "Say 'You look sexy as hell in black leather, Brooke,' and I'll stop."

Nathan just smirked at her as he flipped her over and pinned her wrists above her head.

Breathless, Brooke stared up at him with a light in her eyes.

Nathan didn't move, aware that no-one could see them in the dark.

"Nate," Brooke whispered.

"Brooke," Nathan murmured as he dipped his head.

Brooke closed her eyes and felt Nathan's breath on her skin, making her shiver.

"You look sexy as hell in black leather, Brooke," Nathan whispered before tickling her.

"Nate!" Brooke squealed as she squirmed beneath him, but he was too heavy for her to move. Fighting his hands, Brooke gasped for breath as she laughed.

"There's someone in the river!" someone yelled, causing Nathan to pause his assault on Brooke.

Scrambling to his feet, he reached down and pulled Brooke up before running towards the river, hand in hand with her.

"Who's in there? Did they fall? Were they pushed?" Nathan shouted in rapid-fire whilst kicking off his trainers.

"It's Tim. One of the girls he was trying it on with pushed him away and he fell back into the river," Skills yelled across the way.

"Figures," Nathan muttered as he took off his shirt and handed it to Brooke.

"This wasn't exactly what I meant when I said you should have come bare-chested," Brooke grinned at him.

Nathan flashed her a grin before sprinting towards the river and diving in towards where Tim was flailing about. Minutes later Tim was being dragged out of the water by Skills and Jake, whilst Brooke rushed towards Nathan who was pulling himself onto the grassy bank.

"All those hours in the weight room must have paid off then," Brooke said lightly as she wrapped Peyton's Hook cape around his cold, wet body.

"You know it," Nathan whispered breathlessly as he began to shiver.

"I need jumpers, coats, anything to get Nathan dry and warm!" Brooke yelled into the crowd that had gathered around them.

Grabbing the first items that were thrown towards her, Brooke wrapped Nathan in them and rubbed his arms and chest, trying to warm him up.

"There are easier ways to get me to rub you, Nathan," Brooke teased him with a wicked glint in her eyes.

"I thought you might like the heroic approach," Nathan grinned as warmth began to seep back into his body.

"I guess someone had to save Tim," Brooke glared at Tim, who was whining to Jake, who looked like he wanted to kill himself rather than be looking after Tim. "Although leaving him in the river would have been tempting."

"What was it you said about only someone stupid falling into the river?" Nathan chuckled before he began coughing.

"We should have put Tim on a leash," Brooke sighed as she bundled Nathan into his dry shirt and put several sweaters on him for good measure.

"Brooke, I look like the Michelin Man," Nathan protested.

"Look, all the girls drooled over your bare chest not five minutes ago, stop being so vain," Brooke hauled him up, almost falling over herself.

"How would you feel if I bundled you in several big sweaters?" Nathan muttered.

"I'd be smart enough to know what's good for me," Brooke grinned.

"Liar," Nathan glared at her.

"Come on, let's get you back to your apartment," Brooke laughed at him.

"Are you propositioning me, Brooke Davis?" Nathan chuckled as Brooke helped him across the dark court.

"Let's see. You treated your ex-girlfriend horribly, and she's my best friend. You're the brother of my ex-boyfriend, who cheated on me with your ex-girlfriend. And, oh yes, you're married to my ex-boyfriend's best friend," Brooke ticked off her fingers. "God, how screwed up is our little incestuous group?"

Nathan pulled a face. "I've never really thought about it like that. I guess we're the only ones who haven't hooked up then."

"Well, I don't think Lucas and Haley have, that'd be too weird," Brooke shuddered at the thought.

"Yeah," Nathan shuddered too.

"Ah, light!" Brooke clapped her hands in glee as they found street lights.

Nathan squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light. "Let's hurry back, I'm still cold."

"Yes boss," Brooke saluted before taking Nathan's hand and pulling him along the sidewalk.

Suddenly, they were pitched into darkness again.

"What the hell?" Nathan sighed.

"A blackout on Halloween?" Brooke moved a little closer to Nathan. "Isn't this a little clichéd?"

"It'd only be clichéd if you hear footsteps behind you," Nathan pointed out.

"Nathan!" Brooke squealed. "Shut up!"

"Okay," he chuckled. "Come on, let's get home."

"Don't let go of my hand," Brooke said nervously.

"I won't let go, Brooke," Nathan told her patiently as he pulled her along.

"You better not," Brooke muttered as she hurried after him.

Ten minutes later, a terrified Brooke and a frustrated Nathan turned into his street.

"Brooke, for the last time, there's no-one behind us!" Nathan half-yelled at her.

"I heard them! They were breathing heavily and shuffling their feet!" Brooke yelled back at him.

"That was Tim, trying to find his way home!" Nathan yelled at her.

Brooke muttered under her breath.

"What?" Nathan glared at her before walking up to his apartment.

"You're no hero," she muttered. "You'd happily let me get attacked by a serial killer on Halloween."

"At this moment in time, I'd quite cheerfully take you to a serial killer myself," Nathan muttered as he unlocked his door.

Brooke stared daggers at his back.

Nathan took a step into his apartment but paused, hearing a noise. Holding out his arm, he moved Brooke behind him.

"Nate!" Brooke whispered.

"Shh, it's okay," he whispered to her. Grabbing the baseball bat he kept by the door, Nathan moved towards the bedroom, where the noise was coming from. He kept Brooke right behind him as they moved closer.

Nathan couldn't hear anything, so he pushed the door to the bedroom open and flicked on the light switch. Glancing around, he found some of his things scattered around the room, but no-one was there. He checked the closet, under the bed and behind the door before calling Brooke in.

"I guess someone thought they'd take advantage of the blackout and tried to burgle the place," Nathan shrugged. "They probably heard us come in and ran away."

"At least they didn't take anything," Brooke shivered.

"It helps that I don't have anything they'd want to take," Nathan said, tongue-in-cheek.

"Well, that's true," Brooke tried to smile, but she began shaking.

"C'mon Brooke," Nathan murmured as he moved to take her in his arms.

Brooke wrapped her arms around his neck and he held her tightly.

"What if they hadn't run away? What if there'd been two or three of them? What if you hadn't had that baseball bat? What if you hadn't heard them?" Brooke trembled in his arms.

"Nothing happened, Brooke," Nathan soothed her. "We're okay."

Brooke tried to control her shaking, but couldn't.

"C'mon, Brooke," Nathan repeated, stroking her hair. "I never knew you were such a scaredy cat."

"What!" Brooke brought her head up sharply and glared at Nathan, only to find him smiling at her.

"That's better," Nathan grinned.

Brooke returned his grin ruefully before resting her head against his chest. Nathan stroked her back gently.

"Nathan?" Brooke murmured.

"Yeah?" Nathan said softly.

"I don't want to walk home in the dark," Brooke whispered.

"You can stay here," Nathan replied softly.

"I really shouldn't," Brooke whispered.

"I won't touch you, Brooke," Nathan promised her.

"I want you to touch me, that's why I shouldn't stay," Brooke sighed.

Nathan tipped her chin up. He searched her eyes. He lowered his head.

She stared up at him. Her lips parted. She lifted her head.

His lips met hers tentatively, without pressure. Nathan lifted his head and looked at her again, before dipping his head and kissing her with more pressure. This time he demanded a response from her, and she gave it. The kiss lit them on fire from inside, igniting passions that had never quite matched before. Breaking apart, Nathan dragged air into his lungs. Brooke rested her head on his chest and listened to his racing heart.

"You're not going home, Brooke," Nathan muttered.

"No, I'm not," Brooke smiled into his chest.


End file.
